Neutralization
by Shortnime
Summary: Rin, a negative girl who hides behind her best friend Miku and Len, a positive and friendly boy. What happens when the two meet? An innocent and lively high-school romance story! RinLen, no incest. More pairings inside. Rated T just in case. *updated first few chapters for easier read and more paragraph breaks*
1. Spring of Beginning

_Thank you for reading this story! Hopefully I'll be able to finish this story since I have lots planned for this story's development. Sorry for grammar mistake._

_Edited: February 16th 2014. Changed the tense to past tense and added more paragraph breaks. _

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**-Spring of Beginning-**

New uniforms, a fresh start, spring was the indication that a new school term has begun. For those who were previously in their third year in middle school, this was their beginning in high school, a time to lead a rose-colored life… at least it seemed so to most people.

"Miku… There are so many people! This is very unpleasant…"

The blonde-haired girl speaks nervously as she hid behind the girl in twintails she called Miku.

Some students were staring at the odd-looking pair as the blonde girl clung onto Miku's back, hoping that by doing so will hide her from the view of people. Apparently, that only did the opposite effect. She and Miku had a large gap in outer appearance and them being together didn't do the margin any justice.

"Rin, it's really annoying that you keep tugging on me like that."

Instead of backing off from Miku's scolding, Rin moved nearer toward Miku. Her face became pale and starting to turn blue.

"M-Miku! What if we're placed in different classes?!" Despite wearing thick glasses and having bangs that hid her face, Miku could tell that Rin was at the verge of crying.

"What are you saying, idiot? Just because we're in separate class doesn't mean our bond is broken right?" Miku said reassuringly at Rin and she smiled in respond.

They continued walking through the school gate towards the notification board for the first year students to look at their class placing, ignoring people's glances and stares, which were mostly directed at Miku.

Miku was wearing the school uniforms; a white collared shirt with dark blue neck tie and a matching set of dark blue blazer and skirt. Her idol-like face, beautiful posture and silky hair being tied into twintails made people being unable to look away from her. To top, she had this confidence aura radiating from her.

As for Rin, she had her blonde hair hanging at shoulder-length, long bangs parted to the side and a pair of thick glasses that hid her face, in short, a simply plain appearance. Her uniform was the exact same as Miku. Unlike Miku though, Rin radiated a strong negative and insecurity aura, her timid body hid her well from attracting people's attention.

Meanwhile, already at the notification board, two boys were busy searching for their name in the list of class placing.

"Len, found it!" A teal haired boy waved towards a blonde-haired boy.

The blonde haired boy called Len shows a look of curiosity before the teallette grinned at him, "Same class again, hell yeah!"

Len can't help but smiled happily. "I can't believe we managed to get into the same class for our first year in high school. This makes us being in the same class for 3 years continuously since middle school."

As the boys were busy celebrating, the teallete suddenly fell to the ground thanks to the harsh push from the person behind him.

"What the heck dude!"He scorned angrily.

As he managed to get a grip, he slowly looked up and saw a teallete with twintails, looking down at him with disgust and menacing aura.

"You were in the way, garbage." She glared at him for another second before talking to the petite blonde beside her.

"Let's check for our class placing and get this done quickly, Rin."

Rin stuttered the word 'yes' as she headed to look at the list of names.

"What the hell is your problem, do you love physically attacking people from nowhere if they get in your way?!"

The teallete yelled at her but Miku kept a bored face and coolly replied, "At least I don't let a cute harmless girl making herself looks like an idiot trying to get through two stupid boys." Veins popped on the male teallete's face. "For your information, the name's Mikuo."

Miku eyes widen in surprise, "Oh my god, is that so?! Guess what? I DON'T FREAKING CARE! A garbage is a garbage and that settles it." Miku walked past them and went to accompany Rin in the search through the name list. "Sheesh, there's this thing called attitude, excuse you." Mikuo whispered to himself, annoyed. "Come on Len!"

Len cheerfully followed from behind. After they were far enough, Len started to laugh loudly.

"Man, I can't believe you got into a fight on the first day of school, with a girl no less!"

Mikuo stretched his back. "This is why you can never trust girls, all they ever had going for them are their look. The 'nicest' example is that twintail woman with foul mouth just now."

Mikuo looked at Len. He knew, no matter what he says, Len will always brush him off and told him to think positively. That's who Len was, always nice and treated people around him well.

In addition of his handsome look, Len was sociable and friendly, which made him the throb of girl's heart. Mikuo is just as handsome, though he would be more popular if he stopped treating girls harshly due to his feminist thought that all girls were annoying and troublesome.

"Girls are just liars, they put on façade on their horrible attitude just like how they cover their ugly face with makeup." Mikuo added and Len laughed it off. "You know, not or girls are like that. Some of them are really nice. You can't just group them altogether."

"A dude who has tons of friends that are girls who are obviously trying to attract his attention but he rather to 'just be friend' with them and never dated anyone before has no right to lecture me about girls."

A triumphant smile appeared on Mikuo's face, he always backfired Len with this topic. "You're popular with girls but in reality, you're one of those innocent guys who wanted to have an innocent first love and date the girl they love."

Len's face became crimson red. He tried to cover embarrassment by spouting anything he can at Mikuo.

"Shut up! Just because you've dated someone before doesn't mean that you can laugh at my principle!"

The teallete simply smirked at him as he waved his hand saying something like 'yeah okay you win' lazily, knowing that he had won against Len in that topic.

As they reached their class; 1-2, they picked the seat at the back of the classroom. Some of the students who have arrived earlier in the class greeted them since they were classmates back in middle school. They were the centre of attention, especially Len, considering how friendly he was with anyone regardless of their gender.

"I- I know that we might be in different class but t-to be three class apart from each other…"

An anxious voice at the door managed to catch Len's attention.

"What if they hate me?"

There was a long pause before the voice continued "I… I don't know, I don't think I can."

Due to the far distance from the classroom's door, Len didn't hear what did the other person was saying to the anxious voice.

Moments later, the blonde girl he met earlier that day walks inside the classroom, followed by the teallete who fought with Mikuo. The boys in the room were swooning for her, she had this 'popular girl' aura.

She scanned around the room before her eyes stopping at Mikuo. It appeared that he also noticed her and in surprise, glared at her.

"Tch- To think that Rin will have to be in the same class as that bastard garbage…" She cursed under her breath.

Then, Miku recomposed herself and gave a proud stance. "Rin, I'll check up on you during recess, lunch break and wait for me after school okay? Do not go home without me."

'Wow, talk about queen control. This girl might think that she's too great of a person and that blondie is the only person who kept up with her. That's why she controlled her to the max.' Mikuo thought to himself while sighing.

Girl's relationships are scary, they look close but in reality, they're backstabbing each other.

'I bet that nerdy blonde is playing obedient just so that she can get people's attention by being near to a popular person.' Mikuo continued to sigh.

Ignoring everyone's eyes on them, Miku continued, "Rin, if that garbage or anyone dares to bother you, just inform me ASAP okay?"

Len can't believe his own eyes, how can someone be ordered around so easily? Is she being bullied by the teallete girl?

Just as Len was about to stand up for her, the blonde girl showed a warm smiling face at the teallete, happiness radiating from her.

"Yes, thank you Miku." She replied.

At that moment, a strange feeling invaded Len's heart. His heart is warm and fuzzy. He felt as if time stopped at the moment the girl showed her sweetest smile.

Slowly, the teallete walked out of the class and the blonde girl sat on one of the seats at the front. She remained quiet and kept her head down.

"I'm so glad that diva isn't in this class, huh Len?" Mikuo snorted at Len. A few seconds passed by but Len remains silent.

"Len?" Mikuo asked again.

"Mikuo…" Len opened his mouth, his gaze remained locked at the blonde girl. "I want to see her smile like that again."

...

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_Thank you for reading this the end. Fav or review, anything you'd like!_


	2. Beginning of Friendship

_For those who have read chapter 1, thank you so much for keeping up with this story! Sorry for grammar mistakes._

_Edited: February 16th 2014._

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**-Beginning of Friendship-**

It was the third day of school and also the third day Len had been observing this girl called Rin.

She spent time with no one but Miku, talked to no one but Miku and reacted to no one but Miku!

'Just how attached are these two together?' Len thought to himself. Len tried to talk to Rin a few times in the past three days but Miku was always there before he managed to greet Rin.

"Hey, you went to the same middle school as Rin and Miku right?" Len asked one of his male classmates during recess. As always, Rin was away with Miku for recess. Mikuo spent the entire night playing games so he's snoring right now.

"Huh? Nope, but I did went to the same elementary school. Why did you ask?"

'Oh so they were friends since elementary school.' Len thought.

He wanted to know about their middle school relationship but since this guy knew about their elementary school past, why not?

"How close are those two back then?"

The male student cupped his chin, making the 'thinking gesture'.

"Hurm… I was only in the same class as them during the sixth grade but they're inseparable. They are popular as always, getting love letters from the boys at least twice a month."

'They?' Len thought to himself.

"You mean, **Miku** often get love letters from the boys, right?" This time, Len stressed out the Miku in the sentence.

The male student shook his head. "Nope. Miku is popular but Rin often got confessed to too. Man, even though I was in only in the same class as them for a year, Rin was so cute at that time, Miku is as pretty as ever of course."

For some reason, Len was feeling annoyed at how the guy talked about Rin and also the fact that she often got confessed to.

'Huh?' Len realized, 'This is weird. For some reason, my heart aches at the thought of Rin."

Despite feeling this way, he can't help but wanting to know more about Rin's past.

Noticing the curious look on Len's face, the male student told him to go meet a girl named Gumi from class 1-1.

"She was in Rin and Miku's class during middle school so she should know stuff."

Len looked at his watch, 10 minutes left before recess ends. 'Why not?' He thought.

He nudged Mikuo, telling him that he was going to class 1-1 in which Mikuo responds with "Un." in his sleep.

As he walked to class 1-1, he was greeted by many students and just like Len, he greeted them all with a cheery face.

Finally, he reached class 1-1 and he called out for Gumi.

"Yo!" A funky looking girl with short hair and glasses placed on her head greeted Len. "I heard you're looking for me?"

"Are you busy right now?" Gumi shook her head.

Suddenly, she was taken aback and pointed at Len.

"Eh?! Don't tell me you're going to confess to me?! I'm sorry but I have no interest in you."

Len denied her and explained the entire situation. He received some questioning look from Gumi, as of why is he interested in Miku and Rin but dropped it off when he said he wanted to get along with his classmate.

"The two of them are really close, I heard that they're from the same elementary school."

Len nodded.

"Their relationship is the same as now; Rin being the timid one and Miku being her guardian."

"So, do you know why Rin often clings to Miku? Is it a form of bully?"

Gumi shook her head.

"They were the best of friends, they did everything together. It's more like…" Gumi stopped to think. "It's more like the two of them rejected society together. Miku won't talk to anyone but Rin, vice versa. It's been like that since the start of middle school so I think something happened while they were in elementary school."

Gumi apologized for not being much of a help but Len thanked her, saying the info was more than enough.

"Oh yeah, one more thing." Gumi added before Len left. "For some reason, Rin is afraid of talking to people. She is constantly thinking negatively, that's why Miku seems to be overprotective of her."

Len thanked her again and returned to his class.

He was thinking, what he should do to get closer to Rin…

'This is because I want to get closer to a classmate. Nothing more, right?' Len told himself.

Coincidentally, the moment he reached his class, he met Rin and Miku face to face. They were also about to enter the class after recess, with Miku accompanying Rin like she always did.

Keeping his usual cheerful attitude, he tried making the first move.

"Hello. I believe this is the first time we talk to each other? Hi, my name is Len!" He reached out his hand, waiting for them to exchange handshakes but nothing happened.

Rin moved behind Miku and tugged on her blazer.

"Listen here. You're that garbage's friend and I don't see the point of you trying to get friendly with us."

Ooo… Everyone around them stared at them, this was all thanks to Miku.

"Is it wrong to talk to my classmate and her friend?" Len shook off Miku's reply.

Miku stared at Len from head to toe before opening the classroom's door. "I don't like you and I don't like having Rin near someone who is over-friendly like you."

Miku pulled Rin into the class but on reflexes, Len grabbed Rin's other hand.

Unsure what to do, Len blushed and stuttered. "I… I'm sorry but can't we be friends?"

"Are you trying to play a joke on me?" Rin said nervously.

Realizing that Rin is talking to him, Len looked at her in surprise.

At that moment, he realized that Rin owned a pair of the most beautiful blue eyes he ever saw, hidden under her thick glasses. Since half of her face is hidden by her bangs and thick glasses, Len never realized Rin's facial structure until this moment where they were very close. She had porcelain-like smooth skin, her face was clean from any acne or scars and she had small soft lips that have the color of cherry even without lipstick or lip-gloss.

He immediately pulled his hand away from Rin, the same speed as his current heart beat and apologizes.

"I… I don't get why guy like you is trying to befriend me. Is this some kind of a bet or dare?" Rin spoke again without looking at Len's face.

Len denied Rin's accusation and said that he simply wanted to befriend Rin but before he managed to finish his word, Miku told him to get lost.

"Listen here Rin, wait for me after school in this exact classroom. I'll be late since the stupid baldy had to pick me to be the class representative and do work after school."

Rin giggled at Miku's annoyance towards her homeroom teacher. After that, they waved each other goodbye before Miku left the classroom.

She managed to send a death glare at Len who happened to listen to their conversation.

The rest of the day went by as usual. Mikuo receiving hits from the teacher's marker pen for sleeping in class, Rin looking down as usual and Len mentally planned his 'make friend with Rin' plan.

To be honest, Len himself wasn't sure why was he so interested in befriending Rin. He just wanted to know Rin better.

Finally, it's the end of the day and everyone was going back home.

There were only a few students left in the classroom, including Rin. Since Miku was going to be late today, it was the perfect chance for Len to talk to Rin so he slowly made his way to her.

"Hey Len, let's go ho…" Mikuo is about to finish his sentence until he saw his best friend walking towards Rin.

'Is he an idiot?! The twintail is going to kill him if she sees him trying to make a move on Rin.'

Mikuo hesitated for a while before giving up on escaping, and finally joined Len beside Rin.

"Urm, I know we started wrong but please give me the chance to make it up to you!" Len bowed down and extended his hand for Rin to shake.

The blonde girl looked around nervously, hoping for an escape but to no avail, there was none.

She took a deep breath and spoke anxiously, "Why are you talking to me?"

Len raised his brow, "Is it wrong for me to talk to a classmate?"

Rin didn't understand, how can this person be so positive and smiled all the time?

"Nothing good comes from talking to anyone but Miku. They'll just betray me and hate me." She spoke in her timid voice.

By now, Len was already making himself comfortable by sitting at the empty seat beside Rin while Mikuo kept on looking at his watch and the door, hoping that a certain girl won't come at that time.

"You never know unless you try. Not everyone is bad!" Len replied energetically.

Rin shook her head.

"P-please leave. It is very unpleasant talking to you." She avoided his gaze.

Len was about to open his mouth when the loud slam at the door stopped him.

"CRAP!" Mikuo cursed, looking at the pissed twintail at the door.

"I was a little late to fetching Rin up and there's already pests picking on her."

She stomped furiously towards the trio and looks at Rin, "Come on Rin, we're going home."

Rin clumsily replied 'yes' and picked her books up.

Before they leave, Miku warned, "If I ever see any of you getting close to Rin again, I won't have second thought on breaking your arms!"

"Shit, that woman is scary and such a control freak." Mikuo sighed. "Sorry Len, I know you have this sense of justice to befriend peoples but you better give up on this one."

He looked at his side but Len was already gone from his view. Mikuo cursed, he should have known.

At the corridor, Rin continuously apologized to Miku.

"It's not your fault. Those pests are the one who disturbs you in the first place."

"But still…" Rin looked down on the floor as she walked.

Suddenly, a familiar voice called out her name. The duo turned to look and Len was behind them, running.

He stopped a meter away from Rin and Miku.

"Miku, I know you hate me being around Rin but…" He looked at Rin. "As expected, I won't give up on trying to be her friend!" Len declared.

"Rin, I won't give up!"

"Hah, nonsense." Miku laughed at him. "Come on, there's no point in wasting time here." Miku walked away, followed by Rin.

After a few steps, Rin stopped at her track and lightly jogged towards Len.

"Rin?" The teallete calls.

"Urm…" Rin fidgeted around nervously. "T-thank you for you kind thoughts but…" She stared at her feet, then looking up to look at Len with a determined face.

Being able to see the blues eyes hidden under the thick glasses again, Len blushed.

"Please give up on it!" She spoke at the top of her lungs. Her voice was loud and clear, unlike the usual timid voice she often spoke in and with that, she ran toward Miku.

After a while, Mikuo caught up to Len.

"You really like putting yourself into trouble, huh Len?" Mikuo looked at Len and his eyes widen in surprise.

He then looked at the direction Len was looking at, Miku and Rin were still in view.

"Eh, wait- You don't mean that blondie is…" Mikuo gave a nervous, 'are you serious' laugh.

Right now Len was hiding the lower half of his blushing face with his hand. "Mikuo, this is bad. My heart won't stop beating rapidly."

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_Thank you for reading this till the end, please look forward to chapter 3. Fav or review, anything you'd like~! _


	3. Friendship between Girls

_Thank you so much for those who have read till this chapter! Sorry for grammar mistakes._

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**-Friendship between Girls-**

"Nice to meet you. My name is Miku." The teallete introduces herself in front of her classmates. "My family has just transferred to this town last week. Hope to be in your guidance."

Miku could hear the chatters of her classmates. Some saying "she is so beautiful" while some questions among themselves about her. "Miku." The teacher calls. "Your seat is beside Rin." A girl with blonde hair and an oversized ribbon raises her hand nervously while her eyes avoid Miku. Miku then sit down beside her. Minutes passed with Rin not talking to Miku, which Miku finds strange that someone is ignoring the transfer student. 'Oh well.' Miku ignores.

Time passes by and it's now recess. The girls are surrounding Miku's desk, eagerly asking her questions. "Urm hey, why isn't anyone talking to her?" Miku points at Rin. Having heard the conversation, Rin lowers her head. One of the girls surrounding Miku pouts and glares at Rin. "No girls like her. She's cocky and thinks that she's so cute just because she receives love letters from the guys. Whenever we ask her, she'll always avoid the topic. She's just showing off how popular she is with the guys."

Rin's body is shaking and is at verge of crying. Which 5th grader girl won't cry when they're being bad-mouthed? "Aren't you guys talking that way about her because you're jealous?"

"Huh?" The girls look at Miku. "Whether she wants to talk about the confession or not, isn't that's her own business? It seems to me that you're just prying into her matter, she seems to be uncomfortable with you guys asking her stuff."

The girls are taken aback at Miku's words. "Fine, if you really wanna side with her that badly, you can go and be her friend. We aren't talking to you anymore!" With that, the girls leave Miku alone. Miku sighs. She can never control her foul mouth. Back in her old school, one of her friends confessed that she liked a boy from their class and Miku straight-forwardly said that she should tell him instead of them, that she's being giddy trying to attract the girls' attention. And that's how her relationship with the girls ended in her previous school and how she made a classmate cried. 'I was ignored by the girls back then and now too, all thanks to my foul mouth.'

"Urm…" Miku looks to her side, Rin is now standing beside her. "Thank you for just now…"

"Just so you know, I wasn't doing that for you. You yourself have attitude issue too. You should have told them if you're uneasy with them." Miku grunts before covering her mouth. 'Ah, my foul mouth did it again.' She was waiting for a comeback from Rin but instead, Rin is looking at her with a lighten-up face. "I… I really envy you. You are straight-forward with your words. I'm afraid of having people hating me so I tend to avoid from speaking." Rin is fidgeting nervously but at the same time, excitedly beside Miku. "Thank you for telling me that!"

"Wait, you're not annoyed with me?" Miku asks, wide eyes. Rin aggressively shakes her head. "To be honest, I want to be like you… Urm, I mean someone who can speak their mind easily without caring for anything." Rin is now blushing red. "Ah… I can't believe I said that." Rin hides her face with her sleeves.

Miku observes her for a while. She doesn't get why the girls are bad-mouthing Rin when Rin herself is naturally cute. True, she might have a bit of negativity but overall, she's just cute and clumsy. "I want to be your friend!" Miku says, a bit too loud and formal while extending her hand at Rin.

And that's how the two became the best of friends.

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"Sorry to keep you waiting!" Rin opens the door to her bedroom where Miku is currently on her bed, looking at Rin's photo album. "Here." Rin settles down the tray of drinks and snacks on the small coffee table at the centre of her bedroom. There are two glasses of drinks on the tray, one is vegetable juice for Miku and the other one is orange juice for Rin herself. The only time when Rin's negative meter stopped working is when she is alone with Miku, the same goes for Miku, she isn't as grumpy when she's with Rin.

"What are you doing?" Rin asks as she joins Miku to look at the album. "Oh, I'm just remembering how we first met and became friends." Rin giggles at the memories. "I always need to handle my overprotective and useless father and I somehow got my foul mouth from that. You're the first girl that doesn't hate, but instead admired my straight-forwardness." Miku smiles at herself.

Her father often sees her as 'daddy's little girl' and acts like a fool around her, she don't understand how her mom can keep up with her father. Thanks to her father though, Miku is now a black belt in judo since her father worried so much about perverts being near Miku and made her joined judo lessons.

Putting the photo album aside, Miku makes herself comfortable by lying on Rin's bed. "Ah~ How long has it been since I last visit your house?"

"Miku, you just went to my house yesterday. To tell you the truth, you come to my house every day." Miku pretends to be surprised and continues on her act as if she hasn't visited Rin's house for so long. "How's uncle?" Miku stops on her act and asks about Rin's father. Rin smiles and replies "He's fine, just like the usual."

Rin's mom left her and her father for another man back when Rin was in the 4th grade. Before she left, she said that she had never liked Rin or her husband, which is the start and the cause of Rin's negativity and insecurity. Rin didn't tell anyone about her family problems except for Miku.

At that moment, Miku sighs, releasing her stress. She's so glad it's Sunday, the first week of school has been really tiring for her. She was picked out as the class representative much to her dismay and the workload is overbearing. "Oh yeah, who's your class rep, Rin?"

"Hurm…" Rin stares at the floor, recalling who's their class rep. "Come to think of it, we haven't chose anyone yet." There was a silent moment before Rin continues. "They'll probably pick Len as the class representative."

The teallete, who's wearing her hair in a bun raises her brow, "Who's Len?"

"You know, the one with blonde hair… His friend is that person that you called garbage." Rin ends her sentence with a giggle. The guy had a wrong start with Miku and since then has been the target of Miku's hatred. "Oh, that guy who insisted on being your friend." Miku replies lazily before pouting. "I don't like him. He's getting way too friendly with you." Rin shakes her head vigorously. "I… I find that unpleasant too! Don't worry Miku, I'll always be your best friend!" Miku smiles at Rin's attempt at cheering her. "Yes!"

Unknown to them, their black and white life is slowly changing into a rose-colored one.

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_This chapter emphasizes on Rin and Miku's relationship, to make it clear on how the two became friends and as to why they are acting the way they are now. Sorry for the lack of rinlen in this chapter, I promise there'll be (big) one in the next chapter. Thank you so much for reading this till the end, please look forward to chapter 4!_


	4. Girls and Duty

_Thank you for keeping up with this story! By the way, please not that this story centers on Rin and Len but that doesn't mean that I'll completely emphasize the story on the duo. I'm giving other characters equal amount of love. Reply to reviews and additional info is below this chapter. Sorry for grammar mistakes!_

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**-Girls and Duty-**

Mikuo stares at Len awkwardly. After the incident on Friday, the one where Len ran after Rin and blushed madly, he seems to be acting normally now. 'Could it be possible that he doesn't realize that he fell in love at first sight for Rin?' Mikuo continues to observe Len some more. Mikuo never liked Monday classes so he has decided to spend the lesson answering the 'Seven Wonders of Len'.

"Can you please stop staring at me? You're creeping me out." Len makes a gesture showing that he is annoyed. Mikuo replies Len's harsh words with an innocent goofy smile which makes Len shudders. After another 15 minutes of boring lesson, the class finally ended and the students are hurrying out for recess.

"So, Len…" Mikuo pulls his seat closer to Len. "What do you feel about Rin?" Len is taken aback at Mikuo's word and quickly covers the teallete's mouth with his hand. "Shhh!" The blonde looks around nervously until his trail stops at Rin. "She's still here, I don't want her to listen and get the wrong idea!" A faint blush appears on his cheeks. Moments later, Miku arrives to class and Rin goes out for recess with her.

A sigh of relief escaped Len's mouth. "I'm interested in befriending her." By now, the class is almost empty with most students already going to the cafeteria to buy food. "That's all?" Mikuo gives him a questioning look, almost sly. "I'm sure there's something more than that." Len shakes his head, denying Mikuo's accusation. "I simply wanted to be her friend, that's all."

The blonde male gives a large happy smile, "For some reason, I find her really interesting!" By now, Mikuo is already covering his isn't sure whether he is supposed to laugh or cry looking at his innocent best friend. "Though…" Len adds as he rests his head on the table, his cheeks flushing red. "I really want to know more about her, her likes and her dislikes. I want to see her face clearly and I want to hear more of her angel-like voice."

"Hey, Mikuo." Len roses from the desk. "This is normal right? For some reason, my heart feels like it's being squeezed whenever Rin is around. I'm always surrounded by friends so when Rin doesn't want to befriend me, that's probably the reason why I have the urge to make her my friend."

Unable to contain himself, Mikuo pats Len at the back, pitying his clueless friend who has never fallen in love before. 'Good luck!' He mentally supports Len before heading towards the classroom door. If Mikuo doesn't sleep in class, he'll go to the vending machine to buy vegetable juice or go to the cafeteria to buy bread, that's his daily recess routine. Len has homemade food packed for him made by his older sister, how lucky.

Mikuo keeps his hands in his pocket throughout the walk to the vending machine. He doesn't feel like eating anything today. Upon arriving at the machine, he hears tongue clicking in front of him. He sighs. He doesn't need to look at the said person to know who it is.

"Hello Miku." Mikuo says lazily, uninterested. Miku gives him a glare before pressing the button for vegetable juice on the vending machine, a bottle of orange juice is already in her left hand. The teallete male looks around and turns to Miku. "Where's Rin? You know, your little puppy." He chuckles slightly at the thought, only to be punched in the gut by the teallete with twintail. 'Note to self, never joke with this woman.' Mikuo mentally notes himself as he winces in pain.

Miku shots him another glare and leaves the place. 'Moron' is the only thing Miku can think of. She doesn't like Len since he seems to take an interest in Rin but she hates Mikuo even more. "Why must we have names that almost sound alike?" She curses under her breath, that guy just pisses her off on every level. A few minutes later, Miku arrives at the school yard. Rin is waiting there for her with two homemade lunchboxes at her side.

They spend their recess quietly, chatting every now and then about what happened in their class. It was like any other normal day until a loud growl interrupts them. They think it's just their imagination until they hear the growl again and again, followed by a soft-crying murmur. "I'm going to die I'm going to die." The voice whispers.

Curious, at the same time annoyed with the voice, Miku decides to go look. "Urm…" The teallete opens her mouth once she sees a girl with spiky green hair sitting on the floor hugging her knees in the corner. Noticing Miku, the girl looks up. "You're bothering me and my friend. Can you please shut up?" Miku, being her usual straight-forward self, says bluntly. Somehow, the girl ignores Miku's harsh comment and quickly hugs her. "Miku~" She says with pleading eyes. "I was gonna eat until I realized I left my money at home and just now we had P.E. and I'm extremely hungry right now I have no friends in my class I could ask for help don't tell me are you an angel sent for me?!" She says without any pauses in her sentences. Miku gives her a questioning look. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

"Jee~ you're so mean Miku. We were classmates back in middle school. The name's Gumi! G.U.M.I." She spells her own name. Miku makes a thinking gesture, recalling her classmates until she finally remembers Gumi. She bluntly says that Gumi was the eccentric hyperactive girl that she finds annoying. Gumi is about to reply until her the sound of her stomach gets in her way. "Uuu… I'm really hungry."

Miku sighs. She really doesn't want to associate with people but it's better than hearing Gumi's loud mouth. "Fine, you can come eat with us." Gumi's eyes sparkle at the invitation and without any shame, goes to the place where Rin was waiting for Miku and digs in the food. Rin was staring with wide eyes at first but Miku explains the situation. "Urm… why didn't you ask your classmates to lend you some money?" Rin slowly speaks. Gumi scratches her head while giving an awkward laugh. "It's only been a week since school start so I haven't made any friends yet. Furthermore, none of my classmates in middle school were in my class, everyone has friends from middle or elementary school." Come to think of it, Gumi actually had no friends since middle school as far as Miku can recall. She is talkative alright but no one actually bothered to befriend her. 'She's like me and Rin huh?' Miku thought to herself before eating her food silently.

"Wow, that's so delicious! Who made it?" Gumi asks after all of them are done eating. Rin shyly raises her hand but immediately pulls it away. "B-but it's not that good, I bet you were saying that to make me feel better." Gumi stares at Rin before bursting out "No way! That was the most delicious food I've ever tasted! If I was a guy, I would have proposed to you!" Rin seems unpleasant at the rare compliment and rubs her left arm nervously. Noticing Rin's behaviour, Gumi quiets down and looks at the floor.

With a faint smile, she carefully says, "To be honest, I'm really envious of you two." The teallete and blondie looks at her questioningly. "Unlike Rin, who values people's opinion and often think before she speaks, I'm loud and never think of what I say, yet I get hurt afterward. While Miku…" Gumi turns to look at her. "You are very bold in your action. You don't lie when you say something. Even though I say what's on my mind, I'm just a coward who can't stand up for the truth."

"Aren't you offended by my offensive words?" Miku questions her. "Or annoyed by my pushy and negative attitude?" Rin adds in which Gumi shakes her head vigorously. "No way! If possible, I want to be just like you two! You see, I've always been a doormat in middle school and the girls talk behind my back about my naturally loud attitude but you two didn't. I… I really admired that!" Gumi speaks her heart out loud and clear with a determined face.

Miku and Rin look at each other with warm and caring smile before they turn their gazes to Gumi. The reach out their right hand simultaneously and in sync, ask Gumi to be their friend. The green haired girl looks at them with wide eyes. Slowly, tears forming at her eyes and finally, she gives in and sobs. "I… I never had any friends before. T-This is the f-first time someone asked me to be their friends." She says between sobs and desperately tries to wipe her tears off her face. "I… I'm so happy uwaahhhh!" In the end, she gives up on trying to wipe her tears and cries at the top of her lungs. Her face is flushing red and wet from the streams of tears on her face. Miku and Rin smile and pull Gumi into a group hug.

A few minutes later, recess ends and the trio returns to their respective classes. Usually, Rin will be afraid when someone tries to enter her circle with Miku but when looked at Gumi, she is reminded by her past self. 'If only I met Gumi at the same time as Miku, the three of us would have been best friends since elementary school.' She and Miku weren't close with Gumi in middle school despite being in the same class because no matter how cheerful Gumi may looked, she spends a lot of time alone and was always being ordered around by those stuck-up girls.

After recess, the homeroom teacher enters the classroom. "Teacher, the other classes already decided on their class organization. When are we gonna decide ours?" A girl who sits in front of the class asks playfully. "I was going to discuss that too." The teacher replies. "So now, we need a class representative, head of health committee and a secretary. I heard that many of you have already participated in school clubs so if possible, please choose someone reliable who hasn't participated in any school clubs yet."

The students are whispering to each other. They were planning to vote on Len as the class representative but Len has already joined the basketball club. In the end, Len nominates Mikuo and everyone agrees, much to Mikuo's dismay. "It's not like you're in any club. You were too lazy to join one and you did nothing but play games at home." Len smirks at Mikuo and he glares dagger at him. He wishes that looks could kill so that Len will simply die there. Being the class representative is a drag and to make it worst, Mikuo remembers that a certain twintail is also the class representative so they are going to meet often during representative meeting.

Afterwards, they need to decide on the head of health committee and secretary. A girl who used to be the class secretary in her middle school offers herself to be the secretary. Now that's left is the head of health committee. Everyone is shifting their eyes. This job is the most troublesome of all. You need to help classmates with illness or any injuries and you'll have to skip all the fun during an event when someone is not feeling well. "Since no one is willing for this, I'll just have to randomly choose someone." The teacher announces.

By now, every possible student crosses their finger, hoping that they won't get picked for that role. After looking at the student list, the teacher opens his mouth. At that moment, the class atmosphere is very intense. "Rin!" The teacher says and everyone gives a sigh of relief, everyone except Rin of course, whose body is now shaking of fear. "N… No way…"

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**_Review corner_**

_Thank you Kireina Yume, Everlasting Kizuna, the strange door 9 and Pikachu for reviewing! Yep, I'm trying to make this fanfic shoujo-manga like cause shoujo manga is my forte *smile*. Now that I reread it, the plot is a bit too fast-paced so I'm slowing it down (or else you would have seen Len confessing in this chapter cough that was a secret cough). Thanks for dropping by at my deviantart!_

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_If you've noticed, none of them have last name (or at least, they weren't mentioned). I intended to do it that way to avoid confusion. I said that there was going to be a big RinLen in this chapter, sorry! That was before I changed the plot. Again, sorry for the lack RinLen in this chapter. Thank you for reading till the end. Please look forward to chapter 5. Fav or review, anything you'd like!_


	5. Duty of A Health Committee

_Hello there! Thank you for reading this far, this time I present to you a chapter worth more than 3 thousands words. Sorry for grammar mistake._

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**-Duty of A Health Committee-**

Rin can't believe this. It's only the fourth week of school and her two friends are down with spring fever. Gumi caught the fever first on Tuesday and Miku became sick two days after. Rin is now on her way to school alone on that melancholy Friday morning. Throughout her walk, she tries to distract herself by recalling the incident that happened two weeks ago, that is on that day she was assigned as the head of health committee member.

After school, she went to meet Miku with pale face, slowly announcing that she got a role in class against her will. Boy, was Miku furious. She went to the faculty office lecturing Rin's homeroom teacher, only to get a long detention and punishment to clean the toilet afterwards. Miku was also pissed that Mikuo became the class representative but she's more pissed that Rin was given a job against her will.

Rin laughs at the memory, Miku acts extremely protective of her and she is grateful for having a caring friend. Gumi too. Even though they've just met, Gumi is really nice and cares a lot about her. She wishes she can do something for the two of them instead of being protected all the time.

Without her noticing, she has arrived to school. It sure feels different without Miku around. As she walks to class, she notices something that makes her anxiety level rises rapidly.

It's the spring flu season and she's in charge of sick people.

She slowly enters the class, there aren't many students like usual. 'Most of them are down with the fever.' Rin lets out a sigh of relief. If all the sick students are absent, then she won't need to do any job as the head of health committee. She takes her seat quietly and pulls out a light novel to read. A few minutes later, Len and Mikuo enters the class. Mikuo is like his usual tired and sleepy self, probably due to gaming all night or that he's simply lazy like that. While Len, on the other hand…

"Eh?" Rin motions. 'Len isn't greeting me like his cheery self today.' Rin tries to sneak a look at Len while hiding her face with the light novel. Unlike the usual, today Len just walks quietly to his seat and rest his head on the table. Realizing what she was thinking, she blushes scarlet red. 'It's not like I wanted him to greet me! It's just that-' Rin slightly turns to the blonde boy before turning back to her book '-he seems out of it today.' If it was the usual day, Len would have entered the classroom with goofy grin plastered on his face as he loudly greets 'Good morning!' at Rin. Rin never bothered to greet him back though.

Fifteen minutes later, the bell rings, signalling the start of that day's lesson. The first few periods are going normally, ignoring the fact that class 1-2 is quieter than the usual due to the large number of absent students. Suddenly during the fifth period, a period away from recess, Len falls down from his chair. His face is red and he is panting heavily. "I'll take him to the infirmary!" Mikuo says in panic as he supports Len on his shoulder and takes him out from the class.

"Who is the head of health committee here?" The teacher asks, granted she didn't know since she's not the class' homeroom teacher. Rin anxiously puts up her hand. "It's recess after my class anyway so as the head of health committee, please go and take care of the student who fainted just now. Please tell the other student to return to class since students aside from the head of health committee is not allowed to leave class to take care of the sick students." The blonde girl with glasses awkwardly nods her head before clumsily fast-walks towards the infirmary.

"Shit, the nurse isn't here." Mikuo curses in panic. He has zero experience in taking care of sick people, this is the first time he encounters such event. As he was busy thinking of what to do, Len is still being supported by his side, a clear voice echoes through the infirmary. "Let him lie down on the bed first." Mikuo looks behind him, his pair of teal eyes meet a blonde girl with glasses who is rubbing her left hand nervously. Dumbfounded, he nods and do as he's told.

"Urm… I'll take care from this point on. T-the teacher told you to return to class." Mikuo takes a last look at Len and carefully inspect Rin before sighing. "I leave him in your care." Once Mikuo leaves the room, the blonde girl rummages the infirmary for a clean towel and a small basin. After finding the items, she heads toward the sick boy and rests her forehead against his forehead to check his temperature. 'Hrm… His fever is quite high.' Realizing what she's doing, she pulls herself away from him in the speed of lightning. 'That was dangerous!' She blushes to herself. Her mom used to do that to her when she was sick and she eventually took that habit and did it on natural instinct. Regaining her compose, she fills the basin with water from the sink in the infirmary and wets the towel with it. Later, she wipes off Len's face with the wet towel. Taking care of sick people isn't uncommon for Rin, she's the one who takes care of her dad when he's sick after mother left them.

A few minutes later, the infirmary nurse arrives and tells Rin that she can return to class. "Urm…" Rin fidgets as she looks at Len on the bed. "I'm sure he hasn't eaten anything yet. Can I return here? Um, for food I mean. I have handmade lunchbox." Rin stutters with her words but the message is conveyed to the nurse. "Sure thing." She gives a warm smile. The female blonde bows down to the nurse and lightly jogs to class. Even though she is a negative person, deep down she's just too nice and can't help but cares about people.

The moment she gets to class, it's already recess. She takes her lunchbox from her bag and stares at it for a while. 'This is mine but… I'm sure he needs it more than me.' Rin is about to go to the infirmary before Mikuo stops her. The timid Rin looks up to Mikuo in fear just like how red riding hood faces the big bad wolf. "Chill. I ain't gonna eat you or anything." Rin doesn't changes her doubtful expression and Mikuo gives up on trying reassuring her. "By the way, how's Len?" He asks. Rin was going to go with 'Why don't you just check up on him yourself' but she isn't as brave as Miku to say it. In the end, she goes with, "He's stable." Sounds very Rin-ish.

Rin plays with the lunchbox in her hands as her eyes shifting nervously, not that Mikuo could see it since her face is hidden under the large glasses and long bangs. Noticing her lunchbox, Mikuo asks again. "You're not with Miku today?" Rin mentally cries. She wishes this guy will just move out of the way. She doesn't want to talk to people and talkative people like Mikuo is very unpleasant. "She's sick today." Rin tries to answer as short as possible. Mikuo stares at Rin for a few seconds, deep in thought. Suddenly, he claps his hands together with delight. "Could it be that you're going to give that food to Len?"

Rin's face turns scarlet red. "I… It's not that good but it's edible." Mikuo is going to tell Rin that Len has his own lunchbox packed by his older sister but he bets that Len will be happier to eat Rin's handmade food. "Excuse me!" Unable to contain her uneasiness, Rin hugs the lunchbox and runs away from the classroom, leaving Mikuo grinning there alone.

Once she reaches the infirmary, she puts the lunchbox beside Len's bed and put a note 'EAT.' on it. The nurse asks if she's going to stay there since the head of health committee can stay there as long as they want but Rin nicely declines and leaves the infirmary.

The bell rings, indicating that recess is over. Len wakes up on an unfamiliar bed and surrounding. "You fainted in class. This is the infirmary." A woman in lab coat speaks. 'So she must be the nurse' Len thought to himself. Len holds his aching head and asks for the time. "Recess ended a few minutes ago. Oh yeah, your girlfriend came by to leave you her handmade lunchbox, she's such a kind girlfriend." The nurse says with a happy face. She's probably in her twenty's right now, seeing youth and young love reminds her of her days back when she was a teenager.

"Girlfriend?" Len asks, confused. He sure has some friends that are girls but never once did he have a girlfriend. While waiting for the nurse's reply, Len takes a glance at the small table beside him and a lunchbox with neat handwriting saying 'EAT.' is on it. "Oh you know, the cute petite girl. She's the head of health committee." It doesn't take long for Len to recognize that it's Rin. "She's not my girlfriend." Len blushes. His reply surprised the nurse. "Really? I thought she was your girlfriend from the way she takes care of you." The nurse replaces her surprised face with the kind smile she always had. "Hrm, it must be her natural instinct then. How lucky of you to have a classmate like her."

Len silently takes the lunchbox and asks for the nurse's permission to eat there in which he gets a green light. The nurse says that Len is free to sleep in the infirmary after he eats later for the entire day since he's sick and Len simply nods. He then slowly unwraps and opens the lunchbox and it reveals mouth-watering food with gorgeous arrangement. He can't believe Rin made all these and to think that Rin often make lunchbox for herself makes Len glad being able to taste it. He has his own lunchbox that his sister made, though the cooking and arrangement is way masculine, so he wonders why did Rin made the effort to give him her lunchbox? He's guessing that Mikuo didn't tell Rin anything about it. Deep down, Len is feeling happy for that. He doesn't know why is he happy, he just do.

"I need to leave later, will you be alright on your own?" The nurse asks and Len nods. After eating the delicious food Rin made, Len heads back to sleep.

After a long nap, Len wakes up, still feeling hot from his fever. How long has he been asleep? Before he manages to open his eyes, he feels skin contact against his forehead. Even with eyes closed, Len knows that it's a forehead against his forehead. Who do that anyway at this age and days, can't they use the normal way of checking the forehead temperature using hands?

"It's not as hot as this morning but the fever is still there." Len freezes at the voice, it's Rin. He doesn't know whether to wake up at that time or pretend to be asleep. He could have waked up but then Rin just puts her forehead against his a few seconds ago, no way he can wake up simply. "I need to change the water in this basin." Len hears the sound of something beside him being lifted up and Rin's footsteps moving away from the side of the bed. Len gives out a quiet sigh of relief. A lot of things surprised him that day. First, Rin is taking care of him (well, she is the head of health committee but it's not that she has to take care of him till the end), she even gave him her lunchbox, then, Rin's clear voice and normal way of speaking (it appears that she can speak normally and not stutters all the time) and finally, the way she measures someone's fever. Len tense up at the thought, he feels happy that Rin did that to him but he doesn't like it if Rin does that to the other sick male students.

Unease at his own feeling, he decides to wake up. He's going to pretend to be surprised that Rin is there and tells that he just woke up. Yeah, that's the idea. But plan backfires when Len opens his eyes and his blue orbs meet another pair of clear blue orbs. Rin is standing in front of him with basin filled with water in her hands. Unlike the usual, Rin is currently having her hair in a bun, bangs pinned to the side with two bobby pins and her glasses off from her face. Len's jaw drops while the color of crimson slowly creeps on his face at the sight of Rin's different appearance. Rin blushes and starts to fidget, moving as fast as she could to put the basin down and fixes her appearance back to her usual introvert look but before she manages to do so, Len steps out from the bed and grab her hand before she manages to leave.

"Ah…" Len speaks nervously. He is unsure what to say himself, why did he stop Rin? Currently, their eyes are staring against each other. Both are flushing red and nervous. Time seems to stop for the two blondes. Len is enchanted by Rin while Rin is frozen on what to do.

"You are beautiful." Len speaks, still dazed. "Um, I mean you are always beautiful but right now you are beautifuller no I mean beautifullest." The sick male blonde stutters on his words which made Rin giggles slightly. Len stops stuttering and look at Rin's lighted up face with delight. "I mean, you are really gorgeous." He corrects himself. Standing for too long, his legs are unable to support his weight in his current sick condition and he drops slightly. In swift movement, Rin puts the basin back to the bedside and helps Len back to the bed.

"Uh…" The male blonde scratches the back of his neck shyly. "Thank you taking care of me and thanks for the food too. It was extremely delicious." Rin eyes widen in surprise as she looks at the empty lunchbox at his bedside. She shakes her head slowly. "It wasn't anything special anyway, the food I mean." She says quietly, almost sounding like a whisper. Rin motions Len to lie down and he follows her without any objection. She starts wetting the towel in the basin and puts it on Len's forehead. "For your information…" She clears her throat. "School already ended and I'm doing this because I'm feeling responsible as the head of health committee. Your friend Mikuo is attending the representative meeting right now."

Rin stands up and in one quick motion, she unties her bun, unclips the bobby pins from her bangs and takes out her glasses from her pocket, later placing it on her face. The sick blonde feels disappointed. He wants to see that different Rin again. She is about to leave before Len's word stops her. "Wait!" Rin turns around anxiously, the only thing on her mind right now is 'What else do he wants from me?!'. "My job here is done right?" Rin frowns. Len shakes his head, replying nothing and trails at Rin who is now leaving the infirmary. Actually, that was the thing that Len wanted to tell Rin, 'Wait.' He doesn't want Rin to leave and stay there with him.

Slowly, Len holds his chest. There it is, that painful feeling again. Moments later, the nurse come in, apologizing for leaving the infirmary for many times that day. She checks Len's temperature and she nods. "You're fine now. You're not completely healthy but it's not as feverish as before. Just make sure to take your medicine on time."

"Nurse, can I ask you something?" The nurse tilts her head to one side, smiling like she always does. "Ever since the first day of school, I've been feeling something in my chest. It feels like my heart is being squeezed. It's painful but I don't hate it. At first I was okay with it but now, it seems to be squeezing my heart more and more." The nurse giggles, knowing the situation. "Tell me, is there anyone in particular that happens to be around when you're experiencing this feeling?" She asks in a roundabout way. She knows if she directly tells him the real situation, Len would have rushed his feeling.

For example, when person A confessed to person B that she likes him, even though person B doesn't like person A at all, a small bud of mutual feeling will eventually grow because person B knows that person A likes him. This is called logic rush where a person will rushed his opinion, decision or feeling when there's something encouraging it to rush, even if it's just a small encouragement.

Len's eyes widen in surprise. How did the nurse know that he's only feeling that way around Rin? He takes a deep breath before talking. "I'm always surrounded by friends. I always befriend anyone I wanted to and they'll become my friend without any haste. But this person… No matter what I tried, she won't become my friend. It's always like this when I'm with her. Is this painful feeling is the punishment for my selfishness?" The nurse laughs at Len's reply. 'It seems like it's first love,' the nurse thought to herself. "No Len, it's not selfishness. It's your own feeling."

Len raises one of his brows and the nurse explains further, leaving the 'you are in love' fact of course to avoid Len from ending up heart-broken if his love is only one-sided. "This is actually a wonderful feeling. You need to be honest to yourself and slowly except it. If the hearth-throbbing feeling disappears after a while, there's a chance that what you're experiencing now is just an illusion."

Len chuckles and thanks the nurse before exiting the infirmary. To be honest, he doesn't get a word the nurse said, just like the author of the insecure story 'Neutralization' who doesn't even know what the heck she's writing about but one thing Len understand, the pain in his chest is not a bad feeling and he just got to live with it. Sooner or later, he's sure that he's going to know the true meaning of that heart-throbbing feeling.

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_To be honest, I want to keep this chapter below 3 thousands. I get uneasy when it gets too long, can you see the last paragraph? Yeah, I started writing nonsense when it gets longer than my expectation. By the way, did you guys notice the title of the chapters? Cough the content of the next chapter is hinted in the last word of each chapter before them cough_

**_Oh yeah, which one do you prefer? KaitoxMiku or MikuoxMiku? I'm fine with either so I need a majority vote on this. _**

_Thank you for reading till the end, please look forward to chapter 6! Fav, review or follow, anything you'd like! _


	6. Committee of Smart Students

_It's been six days since I've last updated this fic, sorry for the wait! Thank you for keeping up with this story! More characters are introduced in this chapter. To be honest, this chapter isn't my favorite but it's important for the sake of progressing. Sorry for grammar mistakes._

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**-Committee of Smart Students-**

Gumi has been staring at her examination paper, looking at the large '6' written with red pen on it. "Teacher, I swear I'm smarter than this! Someone must have sabotaged my answers!" Gumi talks to her teacher with confidence. Her teacher shoots her a glare and she tenses up. A few seconds later, an illusionary light bulb appears on her head and her eyes light up. "Teacher, I know now why I got low score for this exam!"

The teacher sighs, expecting another ridiculous excuse from the hyper green-haired girl. "I was down with the spring flu remember? So you must give me an exception this time." The teacher face-palms herself. She knew it. "Gumi, you got that spring flu three weeks ago."

"Really?! Maybe I time traveled to the future without noticing it?" Gumi questions her teacher. Seriously, this girl never gives up on trying to escape the punishment for failing the math class. Her teacher looks on the planner on her table and writes down 'Gumo: Tutor Gumi for math subject'. She closes her planner and look at Gumi, who is trying to peek on the words she wrote earlier. "I have decided to assign you to Gumo." The preppy girl tilts her head to one side questioningly.

"He's a second year student and the smartest in his grade. You'll attend tutoring lesson with him for this entire week." Gumi is about to comment before her teacher cuts her words. "Every day, after school for three hours, in the library." She stresses down. Gumi pouts, she knows that she stands no chance against her teacher. Before she leaves the faculty office to go for her recess, her teacher yells from her table. "You're retaking the exam next week."

Gumi drags her feet as she heads toward the place she, Miku and Rin usually hangs out. "Hi Gumi." Rin greets with a small smile. "What's wrong? You're usually first for recess, you're late this time." Miku looks at her but Gumi simply sits there, slumping herself in despair. She takes out the melon bread from her pocket and starts stuffing it into her mouth.

"I failed my math test and now I need to attend tutoring." She says with annoyance while chewing the bread. Before Rin and Miku manage to respond, Gumi looks at them with delighted face. "Oh oh I know!" She waves her hands in front of her excitedly. "Why don't I ask you two to teach me math? That way, I don't have to attend tutoring with some stranger and I get to spend more time with the two of you!" She grins from ear to ear, murmuring to herself 'I'm such a genius' and plans to meet her teacher later to cancel her tutoring with this person called Gumo.

The blonde girl smiles at her friend apologetically. "Sorry Gumi, even I barely passed my math exam. I'm really weak at math." Gumi shakes her head at Rin, telling her that it's okay and turns to look at Miku with puppy eyes. Miku notices Gumi's act and frowns, later turning back to her own food. "I'm not that good in math, my score was average. I don't think I can teach people, moreover an idiot like you."

The green haired girl weeps in despair as she imagines her hellish life having to study after school. "Speaking of tutoring, who's gonna tutor you?" Miku looks at the weeping girl. She stops weeping in just a few seconds. "A person named Gumo. You know him, Miku?" The twintail stops eating for a while to recall her memory on someone named Gumo, later nodding at her friend. "He's a class representative like me too. I met him during the representative meeting."

Gumi perks up when Miku mentioned that she knows him. 'She's really easy to get over depression, that's good .' Rin smiles to herself. "So what does this Gumo person looked like?" The green haired girl hops up. She then adjusts the glasses on top of her head. "Well…" Miku starts. "He has really short green hair and he wears spectacles." Gumi is waiting for more description from Miku but apparently, that's it. "That's it?" She asks, slightly disappointed and Miku nods innocently. "That's all I could describe."

"I mean, what about his personality?" Miku shoots a death glare at Gumi. "You asked me about his appearance." Even though Gumi and Rin are Miku's best friend, Miku won't treat them any differently if they get to her bad side. Gumi apologizes then asks Miku to describe his personality.

"He rarely talks and he's a stoic person." Miku explains shortly. Clearly Gumi is not satisfied with her reply. She gestures Miku to talk more but the teallete makes a face saying 'you're annoying' as she finishes the rest of her food. The greenette shrugs. She realizes that she'll just have to meet this Gumo guy in person.

"Urm…" The blonde speaks. "How about we accompany you during your tutoring lesson? I mean, we can read books or do our homework. After all, your tutoring session will be held in the library, right?"

Upon hearing this, Gumi's face lightens up as she turns to look at Miku. The twintails shift her eyes for a moment before admitting defeat. "I guess it wouldn't hurt." She gives her rare gentle smile.

After recess, nothing of the unusual happens, except for Len who keeps on stealing glances at Rin during class. He is grateful that Rin's seat is located at the front while his is at the back, that way she won't notice that he has been staring at her.

Mikuo sighs as he looks at the blonde sitting beside him, being love struck and not knowing about it. The teallete looks at the chemistry formula on the whiteboard. Chemistry is never in his forte and he's bad at it. 'Note to self, go to the library after school for chemistry reference book.'

Mikuo may looks stupid and lazy but he's actually one of the smartest students in his grade, in contrast with Len who earns merely average score in exam.

Finally, after long hours of lessons, school has finally come to an end and everyone is leaving the classroom one by one. Rin, like the usual, is picked up by Miku and Gumi. As the male teallete packs his belongings, he tells his blonde friend that he's going to the library to look for reference book. Since Len doesn't have anything to do, he decides that he'll just tag along.

Meanwhile, the trio females are already in the library. Gumi searches for a rare greenette and spots a bored-looking male with really short hair, currently reading a thick book. 'Not really bad looking.' She thought. She then walks toward him and greets him, in which he replies in an uninterested manner. "Gumo, class 2-1. I'm tutoring you maths. Start with page 27." The female greenette blinks a few times before realizing that Gumo is already starting the tutoring session.

"You're boring." She pouts as she takes out her mathematics text book and lays it on the table. Gumo seems unfazed with Gumi's critique towards him and keeps on instructing her on what to do.

"The margin in personality's differences is too big." Miku whispers at Rin and she nods as they look on the greenettes sitting at the table across of their table. "I'm gonna do my homework. How about you?" The twintail looks at her friend, her hands are now pulling out the activity and exercise books one by one from her bag. She silently curses the teachers for giving too much homework.

Rin shakes her head as she stands up. "There weren't any homework assigned by any of the teachers in our class today. I'm going to go get some books to read." She then walks toward the bookshelf with 'fantasy genre' nameplate attached on it, her favourite genre to ever read. After a few minutes of looking through the books, her attention is attracted towards a half thick book with yellow cover.

Unfortunately, it's located on the top shelf. With her height, she won't be able to reach it. Well, maybe she can if she tiptoes. She tries tiptoeing herself once, twice, thrice but to no avail, the plan fails. She is about to try again for the fourth time until a hand reaches for the book first.

The petite girl turns to her back and her eyes meet a pair of orbs of the same color looking down at her. "Were you trying to reach for this?" A smile is on his face but he is simply anxious and nervous. As expected of Rin, her face remains a frown as she takes the book and thanking that person whom she knows too well.

Yes, it's Len.

"Did you follow me here?" Her frown deepens and he aggressively shakes his head. "It was a coincidence! I was just tagging along with Mikuo. He said he wanted to look for reference books."

A quiet 'oh' escapes Rin's mouth as she looks down on her feet. Without saying anything, she leaves the place and returns to her seat. To her surprise, another teallette is sitting beside her teallette friend. The male teallette looks up and mouths at the blond that it's not his wish to sit there. Rin knows best than anyone that Mikuo would never attempt to get near Miku, not after their horrible first encounter. Then, the biggest possibility is that Mikuo sat beside Miku on accident (not realizing that she was there) and is having a hard time to move away somewhere else without starting an argument with Miku.

Minutes later, Len arrives with a few books in his hand. Noticing Mikuo's seat, he just chuckles in amusement and takes a seat beside Mikuo. To be honest, Len wants to sit beside Rin but that's a bad idea considering Miku's presence there so he just silently sits beside Mikuo. An unneeded stupid joke or any wrong movement will lead him to get scowled by a certain twintail.

Twenty minutes passed by as they sit in silent, doing their own work. The only sound in the library comes from Gumi, who keeps on questioning, criticizing, commenting on the bespectacled boy in front of her. Sometimes, Miku will takes a glance at her greenette friend and unconsciously praising Gumo mentally for being able to withstand Gumi's loud mouth. If it was her, she would have shoved the 203 pages worth of mathematic textbook into Gumi's mouth.

All of them are absorbed in whatever they're doing that the teallette female didn't notice the bluenette behind her. "If it isn't Miku!" He yells, later hushed by his brunette friend. Miku turns around and her eyes widen at the sight of the person standing behind her. "Kaito-nii?" She breaths. "I haven't seen you for a long time!"

The man named Kaito stands there with his goofy smile as he fiddles with the hem of his blue scarf. Mikuo looks at Miku, then at Kaito, surprised that someone like Miku can befriend a normal person like this Kaito dude. Well, aside from the fact that he's wearing a thick scarf at the end of spring, he is normal enough.

"Are they your friends?" Kaito points at the quartet. Miku sends a quick death glare at Mikuo and Len. "They aren't." She then directs her view at Rin, who is still taking some times to process on the event. "But she is, and that person too." Miku points at Gumi. She is currently busy scratching her head and trying to understand whatever Gumo is teaching her.

Kaito waves at Rin, greeting a happy "Hello~!"and Rin just sits there, still dumbfounded. "My name is Kaito, a third year here. Miku and I once learned Judo at the same training centre." Kaito stops for a while before looking at the woman beside him. "Oops, almost forgot about her. She's Meiko, my classmate since junior high."

Meiko greets them warmly. Her appearance seems tomboyish but her figure is more than enough to show that she's a woman. "This Kaito guy is an idiot and a fool but trust me, he's really kind once you get to know him." Somehow, Meiko sounds more like his sister or mom compared to a mere childhood friend. Then, a thought struck Miku.

"Are you his girlfriend?"

Meiko shakes her head and laugh. "We're always together but we're not into that kind of relationship." Indeed, Meiko denies the fact smoothly but as for Kaito, his face is tomato red and he stutters "Err yeah that's right" as he gives out a nervous laugh. Kaito takes a glance at his watch before pulling Meiko's hand. "Sorry guys, gotta go now before the ice cream shop closes. Talk to you later Miku!" With that, the bluenette and brunette disappear from their sight.

Mikuo wonders if it's just him being too good at reading people or that it's fairly obvious that Kaito isn't good at hiding that he's having a one-sided crush at his brunette childhood friend. Mikuo smirks at Kaito's reaction and turns to Miku. Suddenly, his smirk disappears. Miku's cheeks are slightly red, her eyes are filled with sadness yet warmness as she trails on the bluenette's movement. That's when he realized;

It's just him being too good at reading people.

The expression on Miku's face shocks him more than anything. Who would have thought that this grumpy and violent girl can still show that kind of feminine side? He shakes his head and mentally slaps himself. He can't believe that he almost sees Miku as… a beautiful and defenseless girl. Maybe studying chemistry continuously for more than forty minutes is taking a toll on him. He decides to stop reading the reference book and leave for home with Len following after.

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_This chapter lacks Len x Rin but I promise (if nothing goes wrong with my planning), a huge Rin x Len is coming in the next chapter. Eh, wait that's supposed to be a secret. _

_Thank you VERY VERY much to reviewers. I am insecure with my writing style so I'm really glad that this fic gets positive reviews. I've decided to go with Mikuo x Miku (with a slight twist and drama of course *laugh*). _

_Thank you for reading till the end and please look forward to chapter 7! Fav, review or follow, anything you'd like. They make me very happy!_


	7. Students, Camping, Lost! (Part 1)

_*I've decided to separate this chapter into 2 parts cause it seems better that way (cause there's 2 different parts in the chapter lol). _

_*I changed the writing style to past tense since I'm having difficulty with present tense, hope you guys won't mind._

_Thank you for keeping up with this story, sorry for grammar mistakes!_

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**-Students, Camping, Lost?!-**

**(Part 1)**

After a week's worth of tutoring, Gumi barely passed her retake exam. Still, a pass is a pass and she's more than glad for that. She rolled on Rin's bed, celebrating her own achievement. Suddenly, a person kicked her back mercilessly and she fell down from the bed.

"Ouch! What's that for?!" She rubbed her now aching back. She was about to complain more but Miku's deathly glare stopped her from doing so. Yes, Miku was the one who kicked her.

"You were supposed to help us with the packing, not roll on Rin's bed like an idiot."

Rin, who just came into the room, simply smiled looking at their bickering. Ignoring them, she walked toward her luggage and started to pack her belongings into the medium-sized suitcase.

It's the third week of May and their school organized a camp for the first year students. They were supposed to gather at school for the bus that Thursday afternoon (the first years got the privilege of not having to attend school for Thursday and Friday due to the camping date) so the trio decided that they'll pack first and meet at Rin's house before going to the school together.

Suddenly, a 'plop' sound could be heard and Gumi made herself comfortable on the bed again. Miku had already given up on trying to nag at the lazy greenette.

"I wish I have a big house like yours, Rin." Gumi confessed. "My house is smaller than this and I have many siblings too."

"But it's quite lonely sometimes considering that it's only me and my father in this big house. Not to mention, he's a busy businessman so he tends to be away for business trip." Rin spoke without looking away from the packing task in front of her.

Gumi knew about Rin's family circumstances, Rin told her. Well, they told each other their background story a few days after they became friends.

Rin lives with her father in a large 2-storey bungalow. Her mom left them for another man when she was in the 4th grade. With her father's job as a successful businessman, Rin could be considered quite wealthy.

Just like Rin, Miku is also an only child. Her mother is a full-time housewife while her father is a reporter. They live in an apartment a few blocks away from Rin's house. Miku learned Judo before she transferred to Rin's town in the fifth grade.

Gumi is the eldest of five siblings which consists of two girls and three boys. Her mother is a housewife like Miku's mom while her father is an average salaryman. They live in a small 2-storey terraced house in the opposite way from Rin's bungalow.

"So… are you guys going in that attire?" Rin had just finished packing and she turned to her friends for their opinion.

"Well, we should be at school at 1 and we're gonna take a bus to the camping site so I guess this will do." Miku looked at her sleeveless collared grey shirt with teal colored necktie and black skirts. "Yeah, it'll do."

"We're going to be in the bus for 4 hours straight. I suggest going with something simple." Gumi hopped out from Rin's bed and pointed at her own clothing. It's a sleeveless collared orange dress that reached her knees and a darker orange belt securing her waist.

Rin is surprised with Gumi's choice of clothing. Not that it's horrible, it's just that she was expecting Gumi to wear something that felt more… energetic. The dress she's wearing made her looked like a warm, nice and gentle country girl. Furthermore, she's wearing her spectacled correctly and not on top of her head.

"Why made you decide to go with that dress?"

'As straight-forward as always, Miku.' Rin thought. It appeared that Miku shared the same thought as her but unlike Rin, Miku asked the said person on the spot.

Gumi sent her a questioning look. "Actually, this is my favorite choice of style." Suddenly, a thought crossed her mind and a look of panic appeared on her face. "W-wait, does it look bad?!"

Miku and Rin shook their head in unison. "You look great in it!" The petite said and the greenette let out a sigh of relief.

"It's just that I thought you're the type that likes to wear jacket, hoodies, parka, shorts… You know, the tomboy fashion." The twintail added and Gumi smiled shyly. "Well, I do like wearing shorts and jackets but they're my third fav style. I actually prefer homely dresses like this and school uniforms."

The other duo nodded. They learned something new about Gumi that day.

After fifteen minutes of deciding on what to wear and arguing with Miku who constantly yelled "GOSH JUST WEAR ANYTHING AND GET IT DONE QUICKLY!" Rin went with a white tank top, neon green jacket and a matching hot pink skirts.

They took their luggage and headed for school.

They arrived at school thirty minutes before 1. The teacher in charge instructed the students who has arrived to check their attendance with their homeroom teacher and immediately take a seat on the assigned bus.

Miku's expression dropped. She thought that they are free to choose whichever bus to sit on and argued with the teacher. In the end, she gave up on the argument since the teacher threatened to ban her from the camp trip if she keeps on arguing.

After waving each other a short goodbye, they went on the assigned bus according to their classes.

Rin slowly entered the bus and walked on the isle as her eyes tried to find an empty window seat since that would help to ease her terrible case of motion sickness. Unfortunately, there was none. All the window seats were taken and the poor blonde's face paled. Her thought is filled with the possibility of her throwing up throughout the bus trip and getting sick once they reached the camping site.

Her thought was interrupted when someone called for her name. "Rin, are you okay?"

She turned to look at her back and realized that Len was standing behind her, queuing to search for a seat. That's when she realized that she was in the way for people to walk in the bus. She then muttered a quick 'sorry' and moved to the side but for some reason, the blonde boy isn't moving and kept on staring.

Len suddenly grab her by the wrist and pulled her to one of the front seats on the bus. "Excuse me, do you mind if Rin takes your window seat? Rin isn't feeling well."

The girl sitting on the window seat looked up to the blondes and immediately gave Rin her seat. "Do you have motion sickness?" She asked and Rin nodded shyly. A smile crept on her face as she moved away for Rin to walk in.

She gave a questioning look at Len and he showed the same look. "Aren't you going to sit beside her?" The girl pointed to the empty seat beside Rin.

'Of course I would like to sit beside her.' He thought but before he managed to decline, the girl cut his words. "I'm bad with sick people. I mean, I'm not good at taking care of them." She took a glance at Rin before continuing. "And as I can recall, Rin doesn't really talk to anyone class. Isn't it better for you to take care of her?"

Len finally gave up since the girl insisted so much on Len sitting beside Rin. Once he sat beside Rin, Rin spoke slowly, as if a whisper. "I'm sure she's uncomfortable with me." Len was about to protest but knowing the negative Rin, she'll just insist on the fact.

"Well…" Len spoke as he dug his hands into his hoodie's pocket. "What matters is that you know that I am glad to sit beside you."

Rin's head rose up to look at Len but he immediately turned his head the other way, not wanting Rin to see his now reddened cheeks.

A few minutes later, the bus was completely filled with students. Mikuo, the class representative, went to check the attendance for the last time before sitting at the front seat with their homeroom teacher.

"Rin, if you feel sick, just tell me okay."

Rin nodded at the male blonde and rested her head to the bus seat. An hour later, Rin's stomach started churning and her face is paling. It came, the motion sickness.

'I can still hold it.' She mentally told herself continuously. 'I can do this I can do this I can do this.'

She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes. Suddenly, she felt like something was placed into her right ear. She opened her eyes and saw Len, holding up his mp3 player in front of her. The earphones are plugged in, one of the phones was inserted into Rin's right ear while the other one is in Len's left ear.

"Just focus on the music. Don't force yourself." He looked at Rin apologetically. "My older sister had motion sickness too. She tended to listen to music during the ride to ignore the sickness and it worked."

Rin blinked a few times and decided to go with it. Len's right, it did work.

"Are you okay?" Len asked again. Rin swore this is the ninth time Len asked her that question.

She nodded and thanked him. As Len was about to turn his focus back to the book he's reading, Rin gently tugged the sleeve of his jacket, which made his heart skipped a beat. "P- please, you don't have to be considerate with me." Her eyes were shifting nervously with her cheeks flushed.

'Too cute…' Len stopped in motion. He suddenly forgot what he wanted to reply at Rin and kept on being a stone for nearly a minute. Finally, regaining his compose, he coughed. "I'm just worried about you. You took care of me when I was down with a fever last time right?"

'That's true…'

"So is this urm… An obligation?" She asked.

Well, Len didn't want Rin to think that he's taking care of her because he is feeling obliged. That just didn't sound right.

"There's that but didn't I say it before?" The petite girl gave a questioning look, wondering what Len said before and the male blonde leaned himself against her, closing their distance until his breath is at her ear.

"What matters is that you know that I am glad to sit beside you." He whispered.

Rin quickly backed away from him, both her hands were holding her ear while her face was red with embarrassment and her heart was beating wildly. Len gave her his normal boyish smile and let out a chuckle, asking her "Got it?" and Rin nodded frantically.

Unknown to her, the person beside her was having a hard time controlling his fast-beating heart too.

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_Thank you so much for all the reviews you gave! I've read them all and they made my day greatly. Thank you for reading this till end, please look forward to chapter 7 part 2! Fav, review or anything you'd like! They make me very happy._


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